Army Sergeant's hunting weapon confiscated by police in Ft. Hood

I find it odd how some people in the states get angry and offended when the government has stationed military personal at public venues or on the streets for what ever reason or case . but then but then are yet ok of people just walking around with their rifle . there is a shocking large group of eager vigilantly wanna be law enforcement ready to save the day and protect from crime with my gun out there.

I feel sorry for the police officers over there literately wondering if the next call will be another statistic with some guy about to go off the handle . guess now I understand why the cops there are so brutal with their guns drawn on traffic stops . here I thought only crazed lunatics walked around with their rifles . unless you know they were out far in the bush actually hunting .

sorry to bring you guys an outside perspective but for the life of me and the people I have discussed to about this whole gun debate/ argument going on down there no one can really grasp the reasoning as to why one would think it is acceptable to walk around with a rifle .

Originally posted by Xtrozero
I see you don't get a lot of stars to your posts and I think the reason is because you do not know state laws. In most states it is legal to open carry a weapon, so your post of "locked away not on display" shows that you are rather ignorant to your rights in this area.

The risk of being that way is you don't know when your rights have been violated or not as you slowly loose them.

Well to be honest I am not all to concerned about stars when I make a post I am voicing an opinion . I am still allowed to do that am I not ? If your only concern is leave a comment that will only award you a star and not voice an opinion or concern I feel sorry for you .

Do you know the laws where I live even how ridiculous some even may be . Yes I am from another country sorry I am not brushed up on all the worlds most stupidest laws , as you can clearly see I am like many others who gave up butting heads with you guys because of the rabidness of the pro gun people , to see any reasoning in any of this as for the reasoning for commonsense gun legislation , it clearly appears that the usa needs some legislation .

Originally posted by Honor93
reply to post by buster2010

 

yet another ambiguous law

the officer reasonably believes it is necessary for the protection of the license holder, officer, or another individual.

carrying in the open in a non-threating manner provides -0- reasonable belief of impending danger to anyone.

perhaps you interpret that to mean "anytime he feels like it" but it sure doesn't state such a thing.

and, considering the property was not rightfully returned, the citizen should sue the dept and the officers involved.

Maybe you should get someone to read the article to you that way they can break it down into words you can understand. They were called into the area because of the way the guy was acting they had every right to ask for the weapon during questioning. You can whine all you want but the guy broke the law.

reply to post by buster2010


Believing what the person involved in this said happened before the recording started, the officer never said "put the weapon down" or any similar statement prior to grabbing his rifle and forcibly attempting to take it away.

It would be natural to try to step back and the officers attempt to make that into a resisting arrest charge when no arrest was in progress because as yet no crime had been committed is very convoluted logic that fails very easily.

The man with the rifle was within all his rights to be carrying it and having lived in Texas what is against the law is "brandishing" meaning pointing it in a threatening manner - walking with it in a sling hands off is not in any way brandishing.

The officers lame excuse that in this day and age its making people nervous or scared has absolutely nothing as a basis in the law - hence the mans comment "have you explained the law to them?"

I think the man involved here will win a nice civil rights violation case.

The thing is when dealing with the cops, is don't ever let them feel like they have lost control over a situation. That is the quickest way to get beaten, tazed and arrested. The video does not really show if they guy was being antagonistic to the cops or not.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad I live in an open carry state also. And I am a veteran as well. I'm just trying to see things from the cops point of view if the Sergeant was being threatening or not. if he was well then he sorta brought it on himself. If he was not then the cops should get a dozen lashes with a rattan cane.

my 2 cents anyways.

reply to post by Phoenix


The moment Grisham refused the officers requests/questions the officer was well within the law to disarm him. Once he refused to be disarmed, the officer was well within the law to arrest him for interfering with the officers duties. At some point the officer felt compelled to draw on Grisham, leading me to believe that Grisham was being belligerent and only started filming once the officers (backup had arrived at this point) began to arrest him. In typical blogger fashion, Grisham posted only the last half of what happened and conveniently left out anything prior to that in his claim.

You can read the story from the local media here.

The point is, if he would've just answered the questions and not hassled the cops he wouldn't be in the situation he's in now.

reply to post by links234


The local DA understands he absolutely cannot win the case, which is why he reduced the charge. Now they'll bargain over not suing the city in return for dropping the mopery charge. If they dismissed the charges, they've got nothing to bargain with.

If the guy gets enough money to fight it, the city loses. But the guy can't sit there in jail and not get an OTH discharge eventually. So it's yet another case of the law abusing someone they messed up on, and now they're covering their butts with his career in the balance.

Here is one of the comments at the bottom of the article from Mark Treadway, an LEO:

I stopped a guy for speeding late one night. When I approached his truck, I could see a rifle laying next to his right leg. I asked him why he had it there and he said that is was the way they carried them on the farm. I asked him if he had a concealed carry permit, and he replied "no". I told him that it was illegal to carry it in such a way without a permit. He stated that he knew the law, and it was ok to carry it that way. I had him step out of his truck, I removed the rifle and placed it into my patrol car. I wrote him a speeding ticket, then got out a copy of my state's laws on firearms. I highlighted the appropriate portions for him to read. I called him back to my car, issued the speeding ticket, then placed the statutes on the hood of my car and had him read the highlighted portions. After doing so, his reply was, "wow, I really did screw up, didn't I...". I gave him the copy of the statutes and instructed him to read the whole thing, several times. I gave him back his firearm (which I had unloaded) and instructed him to stow it behind his seat. I allowed him to contunue on his way.
My motto: I don't want to make a criminal where a criminal doesn't exist. Everyone is human and therefore will make mistakes. Educate them and let them continue on with life, a more educated person.
Not every cop is bad.
In my opinion, these two cops are fools.

Take note of his motto - "I don't want to make a criminal where a criminal doesn't exist."

That is the point in all this. Common sense has all but vanished.

Here's to hoping this story goes viral.

reply to post by six67seven


There's a difference between being polite and replying to an officer and just saying, "I have the right to do it and you can't take it!"

Similiar stories but very dissimiliar reactions by the people involved.

reply to post by links234


Of course a citizen shouldn't stand up for his/her rights!! How dare he know the law and intellectually challenge an officer of the peace.

As the officer stated in the video, "we (cops) are exempt from the law"

Like Grisham said regarding his son,

He understand the concept of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong.

If that shake down happen here that guy would have a lawsuit. Open carry doesn't mean pull the guy over slam him in handcuffs, search his belongings to determine if he is not a felon asking him questions under duress. These cops broke like 3-4 laws just pulling this guy over. Wrongful arrest with no probably cause, illegal search and seizure, right to bear arms, and probably right to free speech. One of the officers is a Sgt. lol idiots.

Open carry is a tricky situation and we have seen many cases in the past of people legally carrying in the open that have been illegally harassed and/or arrested by the police who are not familiar with the open carry laws in their own state. In this particular case in Texas, open carry is more common sight than in other areas of the country. The cop in this case clearly overstepped his bounds and didn't follow proper procedure. In cases like this you can get much more by simply using words and conversation vs. his attempt to physically disarm the man.

I do have to ask the question as to why the man was carrying an open rifle while at the same time he was armed with his legally concealed .45 while walking down the road. Just sayin'.... as a CCW holder in my own state I don't think I would feel the need to carry an open rifle along with my concealed handgun.

I'll have to bring up this topic over the weekend at the range. I know that some people just like to provoke situations and if I had to carry a rifle along with my CW I would carry it with an open bolt and no magazine to clearly show that I was not a threat.

Just more corrupt cops harassing good citizens. Bad times we live in,

I'm guessing this town has a ton of money burning a whole in its pocket and was needing a lawsuit or two to alleviate the pressure?

Originally posted by freedomSlave

Originally posted by projectvxn

I can tell you right now there's very few people in the country as fervently pro-gun as those of us who swear to abide by and protect the Constitution.

that comment makes me laugh every time

Well that is a fail seeing how much the constitution has been butchered since 2001

protecting the constitution one key stroke at a time on ats .truly freedom fighters the lot here

also what the hell did he expect , I thought fire arms were to be locked away out of view not on display for people walking by on the street

edit on 14/4/13 by freedomSlave because: (no reason given)

Perfectly legal to open carry in the state he was at. He wasn't "in the street" he was on country paths.

Originally posted by jibeho
Open carry is a tricky situation and we have seen many cases in the past of people legally carrying in the open that have been illegally harassed and/or arrested by the police who are not familiar with the open carry laws in their own state. In this particular case in Texas, open carry is more common sight than in other areas of the country. The cop in this case clearly overstepped his bounds and didn't follow proper procedure. In cases like this you can get much more by simply using words and conversation vs. his attempt to physically disarm the man.

I do have to ask the question as to why the man was carrying an open rifle while at the same time he was armed with his legally concealed .45 while walking down the road. Just sayin'.... as a CCW holder in my own state I don't think I would feel the need to carry an open rifle along with my concealed handgun.

I'll have to bring up this topic over the weekend at the range. I know that some people just like to provoke situations and if I had to carry a rifle along with my CW I would carry it with an open bolt and no magazine to clearly show that I was not a threat.

I think his carrying a rifle was reasonable. There is open season on feral boar in Texas and, not only can you shoot them on sight, they can be very dangerous animals.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
I find it odd how some people in the states get angry and offended when the government has stationed military personal at public venues or on the streets for what ever reason or case . but then but then are yet ok of people just walking around with their rifle . there is a shocking large group of eager vigilantly wanna be law enforcement ready to save the day and protect from crime with my gun out there.

I feel sorry for the police officers over there literately wondering if the next call will be another statistic with some guy about to go off the handle . guess now I understand why the cops there are so brutal with their guns drawn on traffic stops . here I thought only crazed lunatics walked around with their rifles . unless you know they were out far in the bush actually hunting .

sorry to bring you guys an outside perspective but for the life of me and the people I have discussed to about this whole gun debate/ argument going on down there no one can really grasp the reasoning as to why one would think it is acceptable to walk around with a rifle .

Shrug. Just because you don't understand something, does not mean you should ban something. Ignorance of something and fear of something go hand in hand.

If we are talking about reasonable response. It is reasonable to expect police to respond differently to a man walking with a rifle in the middle of hte country side than a man walking with a rifle in the middle of a shopping mall.

Our "hero" evidently did not know that there are laws against hunting (of any kind) along a Texas roadway. That is not a new law, and it is one that is commonly understood by hunters. It is also a common law across the nation. He has no excuse, ignorance of the law is never a satisfactory defense in court.

Surely, the .45 pistol would have been enough protection from any Texas critters that may have attacked them.

The guy just got himself into a heap of trouble and will undoubtedly loss his CC permit at the least.

The cops are always going to show you that they are boss even when they are wrong. That is not to say that the cops were wrong on this. Reports of a suspicious person with a gun have always been reason for them to roll.

These days, everybody has a position on the situation, a public safety does come first.

I'm a naturalized Texan, and I like my guns.

reply to post by projectvxn


I could care less if the guy was a soldier, an officer, or an office supply salesman or a plumber, etc. "Oh noes! They took a SOLDIER'S weapon! The 2nd amendment is under attack!"

You're not special just because you put on a government uniform. And those who don't aren't second class citizens.

This is a nasty story about 2nd amendment abuse REGARDLESS of who is signing the victim's paycheck.

reply to post by NavyDoc

I think his carrying a rifle was reasonable. There is open season on feral boar in Texas and, not only can you shoot them on sight, they can be very dangerous animals.

I've seen a couple of the boar hunter shows on TV so now I can certainly understand why he was carrying his rifle. In my part of Ohio I could never get away with that type of carry. I just wish we had open season on the deer who invade my corner of suburbia everyday raiding bird feeders, landscape and interacting with cars in a bad way on a regular basis. The groups patrolling the neighborhoods are growing year after year. Now 5 to 7 at a time.